The old school blues

Blue is a colour found rarely in nature and an emotion found in every human being. The colour blue is associated with feelings like sadness, depression, melancholy and remorsefulness.  Blues is a genre of music originated by African Americans of south of America in the late 19th century.  The slaves wanted to indulge themselves in the act of catharsis by singing songs not about kings and queens or god but about their own lives.

They picked up the cheapest musical instrument available at that time: Guitar and shared their misery through verses. The story telling element of this genre is the most fascinating thing about it. Stories about life pinning one down and yet to say that we humans are beautiful even in our defeats. Tragedies about slavery, about getting beat up, about lost love, about regrets, about pain and about life.  

Jimi Hendrix is credited for quoting ‘blues is easy to play but difficult to feel’. The structures of the song are fairly simple but they appeal to the listener just right. It quickly gained popularity, initially within America and later throughout Europe and Africa. Geography played a major role in creating the sub genres like delta blues, Detroit blues, Texas blues Louisiana blues, country blues and etceteras.  It is the most influential music genre of all time. Genres like jazz, rock and roll and country are derivatives of blues. Musicians like B.B. King, Muddy Waters, Eric Clapton, Jimi Hendrix are no strangers to music lovers.

Over the years, its popularity among people has surely declined but it still exists unlike new genres that easy come and easy go. I think it can never really die.

Don’t we all enjoy a tragic story? The music and rhymes are cherry on top. Emotions like sadness and pity are never felt in a bearable level, always found in excess. Blues provides us the purgation of such emotions so we can deal with them on a bearable level. Indulging yourself in blues does make you better at handling your sadness. Sorrow that sparks happiness. Such is the beauty of blues. Such is the magic of blues